In every economy, currency is more than paper. It is a public promise. It tells citizens that the state will manage value with discipline, that the central bank will act with integrity, and that the notes in their hands will not be quietly weakened by secrecy, politics, or fiscal improvisation. In Liberia, that promise has been strained for years. It is therefore understandable that any renewed move to print additional Liberian dollars would trigger public anxiety, especially so soon after the country completed a large and costly currency-replacement exercise. The burden of proof now lies with the state, not with the public.
By Dr. Clarence R. Pearson, Sr., contributing writer
Liberians have good reason to be wary. The country’s earlier currency crisis was not simply about economics; it was about trust. In 2016, the Legislature authorized the printing of L$5 billion to replenish reserves, but the subsequent Kroll review found that new banknotes totaling L$15.506 billion had in fact been printed and delivered to Liberia. Reuters, citing the Kroll findings, reported that the printed amount far exceeded what had been publicly understood and that the system then failed to properly track what was done with the notes after arrival. Even where the sensational claim of cash physically “going missing” was not sustained, the episode exposed a grave breakdown in monetary governance and recordkeeping.
That scandal was followed by a 2020 emergency intervention. Facing a severe liquidity crunch, Liberia moved to print additional banknotes to ease the shortage of cash available to commercial banks and depositors. Public justification at the time centered on the inability of banks to meet withdrawals and the need to restore access to cash for basic transactions. Yet the lesson of that period was not simply that more notes were needed. It was that Liberia had become trapped in a cycle where emergency printing was repeatedly presented as the answer to deeper structural weaknesses in cash management, public confidence, and banking intermediation.
The largest intervention came next. In 2021, the Legislature adopted Joint Resolution No. 001/2021 authorizing the Central Bank of Liberia to print and mint a completely new family of currency, with a ceiling of L$48.734 billion, to be executed in phases in 2021, 2022, and 2024. The CBL’s 2021 Annual Report states that this reform was intended to replace the legacy stock, meet estimated demand in line with growth and inflation targets, and do so with “maximum transparency and accountability.” The same report noted that the quality of existing notes had sharply deteriorated and that at least 35 percent were no longer fit for purpose.
That history matters because it frames the present debate. The current administration has publicly emphasized monetary stabilization, not monetary emergency. In his January 2026 annual message, President Joseph Boakai told lawmakers that since September 2025 the foreign exchange market had been stable because of “good liquidity management, fiscal discipline, and strong export earnings,” and that the Liberian dollar had appreciated by at least 3 percent against the U.S. dollar. He also pointed to stronger compliance, digitalization, and the preparation of a supplementary budget under a fiscal framework already larger than US$1.2 billion. These are not the statements of a government describing a sudden collapse in currency conditions. They are the statements of a government claiming that confidence and stability are improving.
That is why any new request to print additional local currency requires more than administrative routine. It requires a public, data-based explanation. If the reason is replacement of mutilated notes, then the authorities should publish the estimated stock of damaged notes, the projected replacement cost, the denominations involved, and the schedule for withdrawal and destruction. If the reason is population growth or transaction demand, then the CBL should show the underlying currency-in-circulation data, cash demand trends, and why the 2021–2024 replacement did not leave sufficient stock to meet foreseeable needs. If the reason is a renewed liquidity imbalance in the banking system, then the public deserves to know whether the underlying problem is physical note shortage, weak cash distribution, hoarding, or broader distrust of banks. Without that evidence, printing looks less like policy and more like expediency.
The economic principle is straightforward. Money supply should broadly reflect the real needs of the economy. When printing is used primarily to replace worn notes or to meet genuine transaction demand, it can be justified. When printing begins to outpace the economy’s productive base or becomes a quiet way to ease fiscal pressure, the cost appears in inflation, exchange-rate weakness, and the erosion of purchasing power. That cost falls hardest on ordinary Liberians, especially public workers, petty traders, and households already exposed to imported food and fuel prices. The IMF’s 2025 program documents place strong emphasis on restoring fiscal and debt sustainability, rationalizing recurrent spending, and preserving macroeconomic stability. That makes fiscal discipline, not fresh note expansion, the center of the current reform agenda.
There is another issue that cannot be ignored: the opportunity cost. Printing currency is expensive. The CBL’s own communications have stressed that printing new notes carries substantial cost and that preserving note quality can help redirect resources toward other priorities, including financial inclusion and digital payments infrastructure. The Bank’s 2025–2029 Strategic Plan puts price stability first and also prioritizes financial inclusion and digital financial services, not greater dependence on physical cash. That is an important signal. Liberia’s long-term solution to recurrent cash crises cannot simply be to print more paper whenever pressures reappear. It must be to modernize payments, widen trust in the banking system, and reduce the economy’s vulnerability to cash bottlenecks and note deterioration.
The comparison with more disciplined monetary systems is instructive. Botswana’s central-bank framework explicitly states that the primary objective of the Bank of Botswana is to achieve and maintain domestic price stability and that the Bank shall be operationally independent in pursuit of that objective. The IMF has credited Botswana over many years with prudent exchange-rate management, low inflation for much of the post-independence period, and macroeconomic stability supported by fiscal discipline and buffers. Liberia is not Botswana, and no comparison should be simplistic. But the principle is transferable: a currency gains credibility when the central bank is seen as a guardian of value, not as an instrument of short-term state convenience.
For Liberia, then, the question is not whether printing currency can ever be legitimate. It can. The question is whether the government is prepared to meet a far higher standard of transparency than in the past. After the 2016–2018 scandal, after the 2020 emergency printing, and after the comprehensive 2021–2024 currency reform, no administration should expect the public to accept another printing request on faith. The state must prove necessity, publish the arithmetic, allow legislative scrutiny, and subject the entire process to independent verification. Anything less would deepen the very mistrust that monetary reform is supposed to repair.
The right path forward is clear. The Legislature should require the CBL and the executive to provide a full technical justification before approving any new printing. Independent audit mechanisms should be engaged from procurement through infusion. Serial tracking, shipment verification, destruction records for old notes, and denomination-by-denomination accounting should be made public. And the government should explain how any new printing aligns with its own claims of exchange-rate stability, fiscal discipline, and digital modernization. If those answers are not available, the request is premature.
Liberia’s monetary future will not be secured by more ink alone. It will be secured by credibility. A stable currency is the product of discipline, transparency, and restraint. After the traumas of the past decade, Liberians are entitled to demand nothing less, and that is understandable.
